


The Wild Overgrowth will go over the Ruins of the Past

by viper1412



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Additional Warnings In Author's Note, Author Is Sleep Deprived, Breath of the Wild Spoilers, For the amazingly slow updates, Gen, How Do I Tag, I'm Bad At Tagging, I'm Sorry, Link (Legend of Zelda) Needs a Hug, Link is a ghost, Non-Graphic Panic Attacks, Nonbinary Character, Nonbinary Link (Legend of Zelda), Other, Panic Attacks, Slow To Update, Tags Are Hard, also this is based off my own adventure, amnesiac link, because i suck at the game, but like also not, erratic update schedule, god these tags are a mess, i think i got this idea from a random thought about linked universe, is sad bois, like half of it is fun adventure and the other half, link is also alive, now there are two links, one dead and one not, there going to be some shit happening
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-08
Updated: 2020-04-15
Packaged: 2021-02-28 02:01:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,552
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22956028
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/viper1412/pseuds/viper1412
Summary: Link dies, then he wakes up 100 years later with no memory. When Link dies, he is the bodyguard of Princess Zelda, wielder of the Master Sword, Knight of the Kingdom, and the fallen hero who failed in his duty. When he wakes, he is nothing like that. He is no one with nothing to his name, not even memories, his name is the sole thing he has. Well, there is the weird spirit that follows him around that no one can see. Then again, you wouldn't really want to count said spirit when all they do is yell at you for "wasting time" exploring this vast world, finding koroks, cooking, and helping people. Ruin's still good company for all his buzzkill tendencies, though.ORLink is both a jaded spirit of a fallen knight and the amnesiac, wandering swordsman. Yes, at the same time. Honestly Ruin just wants to wring Wild's reckless neck half the time. Wild just wants Ruin to stop being so grumpy.
Relationships: Link & Zelda (Legend of Zelda), Link and Champions
Comments: 13
Kudos: 38





	1. Wake Pt 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nothing truly inspired this but I do have some credit to give to some stories/authors that affected the way I write it.  
> I got the formatting style from "a witch's familiar" in the miraculous ladybug fandom which is pretty good. If you're interested, go check it out!  
> And (sorta spoiler but its like in the next chapter and kind of in here) Link having ptsd is from 'Shades of Blue' also in the botw fandom and from what little I've read, its well written and a very interesting interpretation of Link's character! It's pretty great, go check it out if you want to!

If Link had to describe death, it would be with 'Weightless'. It was also cold and rather dark. A void in which he didn't quite float but nor was he dragged down to the floor by gravity. (If there even _was_ a floor) For a long time, it was like this. He never could tell how long, it's not as if there was a day-night cycle where he was. 

For a long time, it was like that.

Until it wasn't.

Until light showed itself from everywhere at once blinding him. Glowing, neon blue danced around past his eyelids even after he closed them as fast as he could. An unnatural, ancient, _**familiar**_ blue. (Unavoidable, sudden, burning memory of _**pain**_ from before the void.) 

He opened his eyes, slowly and gently, to get used to the light he was without for who-knows-how-long. 

From what he could see, he was in some sort of chamber. With darkened walls and no windows, the only light with which to see came from the strange markings littered all over the walls and.... himself?

When looking closer, it was clear that he was emitting a soft light which was much more green than the neon blue the markings emitted.

However, instead of just emitting strange light off himself, he also noticed that he could see through his hand. Oh. _Oh._

He knew the signs, knew the tales, heard stories of remnants and shades and those left behind.

He was a ghost.

Though, more accurately, perhaps he was a spirit. Ghosts were nothing but memories of someone given form, which is why they were trapped to wander the place of death and often could not understand that they died. 

Spirits, however, could take many different forms in many different ways. Voices, animals, or beings given visual or corporal form. He wasn't locked to a battlefield so Link instead assumed that he was a spirit.

Once again focusing on his form, he noticed that he was glowing a faint green-blue color. It was strangely soothing and though a color you wouldn't often find in the wild naturally, it didn't feel as unnatural as the neon did for some reason.

_(He remembered the creatures that glowed brighter than he did but with the same color. Creatures that took the form of woodland animals, with golden laurels that wrapped around themselves signaling their duty as protectors to the forest, helpers to the fairies, and as guides to the lost. Glowing as bright as luminous stones, seeming solid until they dissipated into mist, he never knew why they always allowed him to glimpse them.)_

He questioned if he had the same sort of role as those spirits. As a protector, as a guide...

But then came the question, how could he protect someone like this? How could he guide when he didn't have any knowledge of a destination? How could he protect when there would be no force behind his blows with such weightlessness to his form, he could not know where to seek proper shelter when he couldn't tell the temperature of the surroundings as all he could feel was the cold of death, could he truly keep someone from danger as he was practically a glowing target in the night?!

It was only then, deep in his thoughts as he was, that Link truly noticed the chamber and its contents in the center of the room.

Glowing water, the same blue of the markings on the wall, keeping the one who lied in it in a facsimile of life.

And that someone was himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> that turned out to be more serious than i thought. there will be shenanigans in the future but really yeah i wanted to write a dramatic thing and this was the thing. I hope you enjoyed! please leave your thoughts and criticisms in the comments! i wanna know what you think!  
> :)


	2. Wake Pt 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Link(spirit) learns some things and perhaps the other begins to stir...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To the people that reviewed and kudosed, thank you so much! It was a really exciting and motivating feeling in these trying times. Sorry that you had to wait for this long but I tried! :)  
> Also sorry about this taking so long, general procrastination then my brothers and my own birthday came up! That was all very exciting but didn't really advance the writing of this chapter until I got up and decided to write this for the satisfaction as a gift to myself haha. I hope that you all don't mind too much. Motivation can be a bit hard to find these days y'know...

For some time, Link could only stare. He couldn't quite process what he was seeing. ( _So there, the remnant of the past watches over the unknowing future._ )

Eventually, his thoughts bubbled up past the feelings of shock and confusion. 'What is this? How did this come to be? What even happened to me?'

Link desperately began to reach for distant, hazy memories, to see if he could piece together anything. 

Frustratingly, memories of death or battles that may have been related to his current form came up in fragments with the rest being blurred with only a sensation of pain and desperation.

The fragments revealed not much, too little was given and what existed were but small pieces. Realization, dread climbing in his throat, loss, hopelessness, a burning sense of will before the pain( _ **the burning, white-hot pain spreading throughout his body as if attempting to reach his spiri** **t, then last light, soothing, not burning before that too disappeared**_ ) Then the rest, was nothing. 

He didn't know how long he stayed there, searching his mind, his memories for something, _something_ , to grip too. But eventually, he broke out.

Not yet able to look at what was in the chamber, he went over what he could assume. He was a spirit of some kind, probably due to dying in a battle from what his memories gave him. But against what? Ganon? Perhaps...though that didn't feel quite right. Maybe another enemy of some kind while performing his duty, protecting the princess. 

That thought gave him a jump start, the princess! What happened to them all, if he ended up like this.

Panic began to twist its way into his every thought, the fear and confusion coming back full force, for a moment he desperately wished he could've been back in the void, where the quiet was all there was and the weightlessness never felt strange and the expectations were never daunting, never even _existed_.

Until her voice came through, her voice, calm, clear, and familiar. Princess Zelda.

_"Please, Link...listen to my voice...for I have much to explain."_

"Pr-Princess Zelda," his head whirled around as he questioned the voice that so suddenly came ringing through his head.

_"Yes Link, I suppose where I should start...is that you died Link. In an unexpected battle in which we were overwhelmed, you took a blow aimed for me and lost your life."_

Link didn't know what to think, didn't know what to believe or trust. So he only listened.

_"The Shrine of Resurrection was what managed to save you. Though it seems to have done something unforeseen...despite our best efforts, you succumbed to your wounds just before you reached the shrine, the shrine's power proved immense enough to make you a spirit but your body. Your death had made you a spirit but your body still remains. Breathing, healing...sleeping. I have no idea what truly might have happened with your body but my theory is that it is a blank slate. None of your memories but with just as much potential for life as anyone else."_

Stuttering out, "Princess...how are you sure of this? What am I supposed to do with this information? Why have you come to me now?

_"I'm not sure of much at the moment Link, this is only my theory on why your body still appears to be functioning. I've come to you Link because I must tell you pertinent information. You have been reduced to a spirit but your body still lives on, as a blank slate but it's all we have at the moment."_

"Princess, what do you mean by 'its all we have?"

_"Link. Eventually, your body will wake, I can tell...it will happen soon. Confused and scared with no knowledge of the world that's been left. You may be a spirit yet but you can still help people in that form."_

Link asked sharply, "Oh? And how am I to do that the way I am now?" He was feeling tired and bitter of all the riddles.

_"You can help yourself. Your body may lack your soul but its still the reincarnation of the hero, Ganon still remains a threat and I'm the only thing holding him back. Teach him once he wakes. He will need it in the journey ahead. And perhaps...he can help you as well..."_

Her voice fell to a whisper fading from the room but not his mind. Too much information swirled in his head but he focused on the last part. He looked towards the chamber in the center of the room. He'd avoided his gaze from it for a while now.

With a twisted frown and mind in a flurry of thoughts, he made what could be called a step if you were a weightless glowing spirit towards the pool of glowing, too bright water. A face, just like his own. Burn scars littered across _his_ body, most of which were too severe to be survived and which he did not remember getting.

 _Teach_ whatever that may be residing in his body. To be a hero, a knight, protector, as if it didn't take his whole life to get there.

Like it or not, it was the only thing he could do. It wasn't like he could just wander out of this place, and he had no corporeal body to open it to the outside either. He needed to wait. Wait for his body to wake.

So he settled nearby and waited.

The black behind his eyes was almost a substitute for the emptiness of the void. 

And in the meantime, the one lying in the pool gave a small twitch.

Eyes almost open to a brand new world...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I managed to finish this on my birthday! Yay! Please give me your thoughts! They're wonderful to read, I've found! Also, I've added a few tags, the nonbinary link is actually about the one in the chamber not the spirit. I'm a bit fond of that headcanon though I'm not ride or die on it or anything, hope you're all ok with that. I'm fleshing out the themes, story, and details now and that's something I wanted to add.


End file.
